This invention relates to a gear adjustment means for fishing reel gears, said adjustment means being operable to adjust alignment of a first plurality of gears with an intermeshable second plurality of gears, and being retainable in position upon accomplishment of such alignment.
The importance of versatility in the operational qualities of a fishing reel is well recognized by both the professional and the amateur fisherman. Such versatility is especially important in permitting an operator to variably select the velocity of fishing line release and recall as well as the power transmitted to the line during recall when a fish is on said line. One manner of providing such versatility is disclosed in copending and commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 589,889, filed Mar. 15, 1984, and entitled "Drive Mechanism For Fishing Reel" and now U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,118. Specifically, the copending application concerns a fishing reel having integral therewith a plurality of gears which effect performance characteristics of the spool shaft and resultant line behavior. Furthermore, the gears are easily shiftable when in compatible alignment, thereby providing rapid response for an operator employing said reel.
The achievement of compatible alignment and its maintenance during reel use is essential for operability. As in a reel manufactured according to the above-referenced, copending application, such reel has a plurality of fixed gears of varying sizes which must intermesh with a plurality of transversely movable gears in order to effectuate gear shifting and resultant gear ratio variations. As is evident to the skilled artisan, multiple intermeshing of variably-sized and arranged gears manufactured and mounted individually requires extreme precision during assembly of the entire workpiece since such multiple intermeshing can only occur at few relative positions. Likewise, after successful assembly occurs, normal wear during use can result in some magnitude of mis-alignment. Presently, the initial assembly procedure of such reels essentially is a trial-and-error, time-consuming task wherein fine adjustments of the gears are repeated a number of times until precise gear intermeshing occurs. Likewise, worn assemblies are either adjusted by the same time-consuming trial-and-error approach, or the entire assembly is discarded and replaced with an already-aligned assembly. The above-referenced copending application provides stop means which approximate sites of gear intermeshing. However, it is evident that a need is present for a fishing reel which possesses means to effectuate fast and precise gear alignment both during assembly and after use.